[Table of Contents]

Plasma and Fusion Research

Volume 6, 2403087 (2011)

Regular Articles

Gyrokinetic Simulations of Slab Ion Temperature Gradient Turbulence with Kinetic Electrons
Akihiro ISHIZAWA, Tomo-Hiko WATANABE and Noriyoshi NAKAJIMA
National Institute for Fusion Science,322-6 Oroshi-cho, Toki 509-5292, Japan
(Received 22 December 2010 / Accepted 9 May 2011 / Published 1 July 2011)

Abstract

Ion temperature gradient (ITG) driven turbulence is investigated by means of gyrokinetic simulations which include both kinetic ions and electrons in slab geometry with uniform equilibrium magnetic field. The study confirms that numerical results satisfy the entropy balance equation including both ions and electrons. The entropy variable is transferred from ions to electrons through the perturbation of electrostatic potential, and the transferred fluctuation is diffused by the electron collision dissipation. In the ITG turbulence with kinetic electrons ion heat diffusion is larger than that with adiabatic electrons. The former is close to the latter when the ion mass is comparable to or larger than the hydrogen one. The difference between the transport coefficients does not originate from the suppression of turbulence by zonal flow, but stems from the difference between their spectra. The lowest wavenumber mode dominates the coefficient in the adiabatic electron case, while the transport is caused not only by the the lowest mode but by higher wavenumbers in the kinetic electron cases.

Keywords

turbulence, gyrokinetic simulation, kinetic ion, kinetic electron

DOI: 10.1585/pfr.6.2403087

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This paper may be cited as follows:

Akihiro ISHIZAWA, Tomo-Hiko WATANABE and Noriyoshi NAKAJIMA, Plasma Fusion Res. 6, 2403087 (2011).